Free Republic

Military Superiority: China's new Shenyang J-31 stealth fighter could be the equal of our F-22s and F-35s, U.S. pilots say, and is just one of the weapons that may thwart America's "pivot" to the Pacific. The J-31, a fifth-generation stealth fighter, will make its official debut at the Zhuhai International Air Show Nov. 11-16 in southern China's Guangdong province. As one U.S. pilot with F-35 experience told USNI News of the J-31 and other new Chinese fighters: "I think they'll eventually be on par with our fifth-gen jets — as they should be, because industrial espionage is alive and well."...

Let the politicians debate equal pay and pursue the folly of a war on women in America. Personally, I would like to take a moment to salute woman at war—one woman and one war in particular: Agent 355, the female covert operative of the Revolutionary War’s Culper Spy Ring. When my book "George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution" ,written with co-author Don Yaeger, was first released in November 2013, over half-a-million people scrambled to buy it and one of the elements that struck a chord most strongly with readers was the enigmatic figure of...

The man responsible for what the military called the Navy’s biggest betrayal is dead. John Anthony Walker, the former Senior Warrant Officer from Norfolk who supplied the Soviets with damaging tactical and military data, died in federal prison on Thursday in Butner, North Carolina. 29 years ago, Walker’s career as a spy came to an end in Norfolk Federal Court.

Iran charges US journalist with spyingApril 9, 2009, 9:42 am An American journalist jailed for more than two months in Iran has been charged with spying for the US, a judge said on Wednesday, dashing hopes of a quick release days after her parents arrived in the country seeking her freedom. The espionage charge is far more serious than earlier statements by Iranian officials that the woman had been arrested for working in the Islamic Republic without press credentials and her own assertion in a phone call to her father that she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine....

A veteran State Department diplomat and longtime Pakistan expert is under federal investigation as part of a counterintelligence probe and has had her security clearances withdrawn, according to U.S. officials. The FBI searched the Northwest Washington home of Robin L. Raphel last month, and her State Department office was also examined and sealed, officials said. Raphel, a fixture in Washington’s diplomatic and think-tank circles, was placed on administrative leave last month, and her contract with the State Department was allowed to expire this week. Two U.S. officials described the investigation as a counterintelligence matter, which typically involves allegations of spying...

Our Political Bureau NEW DELHI MANY functionaries of the United States State Department, who handled South Asia under the Clinton Administration, may have to face embarrassment when the Bush regime gets down to locating the factors that made it easier for terrorists to carry out the September 11 carnage. These functionaries, it is reliably learnt, ignored the warnings about the activities and intentions of the terrorist groups operating out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of such reports had come from Michael Sheehan, the head of counter-terrorism wing of the State Department. Sheehan’s report also listed the measures that the ...

First quick highlights -- Islamic School Teacher Accused of ‘Horrific’ Sexual Abuse Against Teen Girls... (Florida manhunt) -- Document shows feds fear airborne Ebola -- News Blackout on New Ebola Tests Tightens -- Update: Voting Machines Keep Changing Votes [R] into [D] [Ill & M] -- Obama's Border Policy Fueled [another] Epidemic, Evidence Shows -- Scientists See Ebola Cases In Every Major U.S. City Possible By Year’s End -- Ebola response ignores history’s lessons: Risks from AIDS were discounted and thousands died [Washington Times] -- DOJ’s Fast and Furious Prequel: Failed Grenade-Running Operation o o o o Here's a headline...

A Chinese intelligence unit carried out a massive cyber espionage program that stole vast quantities of data from governments, businesses and other organizations, security analysts who uncovered the operation said Thursday. The activities of the Chinese unit called the Axiom group began at least six years ago and were uncovered by a coalition of security firms this month. Cyber sleuths traced Axiom attacks to the 2009 cyber operation against Google in China and other U.S. companies known as Operation Aurora. The group was also linked to a Chinese hacking program that targeted dissidents and opposition groups known as GhostNet. More...

The former editor of the Washington Post who led the paper's coverage of the Watergate scandal and made the decision to publish the Pentagon Papers is dead at 93. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2802484/ben-bradlee-washington-post-editor-led-coverage-watergate-dies-93.html#ixzz3Gpfgm5Gb Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

It was the most notorious spy case of the Cold War — the conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union — and it rested largely on the testimony of Ms. Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass, an Army sergeant who had stolen nuclear intelligence from Los Alamos, N.M. For his role in the conspiracy, Mr. Greenglass went to prison for almost a decade, then changed his name and lived quietly until a journalist tracked him down. He admitted then, nearly a half-century later, that he had lied on the witness stand to save...

Once again I salute Edward Snowden as an all-American hero. On second thought, make that an all-world hero. A movie on how and why Snowden revealed NSA wiretaps is about to be released. Showbiz reports Edward Snowden Doc Premieres: Shocking Inside Look at How He Did It. Citizen Four is the shocking doc about Edward Snowden made by Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. Just screened tonight was the two hour film which will be released by the Weinstein Company this month. It doesn’t paint the Obama administration in a very good light as Snowden explains how the government has violated...

When a young Vladimir Putin decided to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a spy, he headed to the local branch of the KGB in Soviet Leningrad. Wary of unsolicited applicants, the KGB officers turned Putin away, but not without some valuable advice: Go get an education, preferably in law. The current president was only in high school at the time. Putin went on to apply to the law faculty at Leningrad State University, a path that would ultimately lead him up the ranks of the KGB, then on to St. Petersburg City Hall under the leadership of Anatoly Sobchak...

The information leaked by Edward Snowden last year raised the public consciousness quite a bit about user privacy and security in using certain services (not to mention the hope that companies won’t be that willing to acquiesce to government requests for user information). In recent weeks, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been emphasizing a new focus on user security and encryption. Both Apple and Google have implemented stronger data encryption so it’s harder to compromise user data. The problem is, however, that it would be harder for law enforcement to access that data too. And FBI Director James Comey isn’t...

Few days ago Hungarian news portal index.hu published an interesting article about Béla Kovács’s mysterious life. The Jobbik MEP has been accused by the Hungarian authorities during the European Parliament Elections campaign, that he works for the Russian secret intelligence service. Both Jobbik and Kovács denied the claims. Although the charges may seem parts of the political campaign, index journalist was able to find telling details as a result of an intensive five-months research.

Obama Throws America's Spies Under The Bus MICHAEL B KELLEY AND BRETT LOGIURATO SEP. 29, 2014 One Intelligence Official Says Obama's "BSing." In a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday night, President Barack Obama placed blame squarely at the foot of the US intelligence community for the rise of the Islamic State, the extremist group also known as ISIS. Citing comments from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Obama said the intelligence community had "underestimated what had been taking place in Syria," referring to the rise of ISIS militants in the country's northeast. But American spies, experts, and journalists who have been...

Can you imagine the reputation of a literary figure surviving the disclosure that he worked (however briefly and ineffectually) for Hitler's Abwehr? Yet Ernest Hemingway worked for Stalin’s KGB and nobody (among the “smart set”) seems to bat an eye. According to KGB defector Alexander Vassiliev "the 42-year-old Hemingway was recruited by the KGB under the cover name "Argo" in 1941, and cooperated with Soviet agents whom he met in Havana and London. This comes from a book published in 2009 by Yale Univ. Press (not exactly a branch of the John Birch Society.)"Castro's revolution," Hemingway wrote in 1960, “is...

Intelligence agencies around the world typically regard China’s approach to spying as sloppy and unprofessional. While many other countries focus on stealth and finesse for espionage, China’s focus is on mass numbers. While regarded as unprofessional, China’s approach has also been extremely effective. The challenge posed by China comes down to a simple fact: it has too many spies for foreign intelligence agencies to keep track of. “Our nation is overwhelmed. The problem is too big,” said Paul Williams in a phone interview. Williams is chief information officer at BlackOps Partners Corporation, which does counterintelligence and protection of trade secrets...

The CIA’s ongoing defiance of congressional authority continued during a closed-door meeting last week after Director John Brennan refused to tell lawmakers who authorized the illegal surveillance of Senate Intelligence Committee computers, which were used to compile a report on the agency’s interrogation practices.

The American who tore up his own tourist visa on landing in North Korea and demanded to be arrested so that he could experience prison life in the communist nation has been sentenced to six years hard labor for entering the country illegally to commit espionage. Matthew Miller, 24, of Bakersfield, California, looked thin and pale at his trial in Pyongyang on Sunday, as he was handed out his sentence. Miller, who looked thin and pale at the trial and was dressed completely in black, is one of three Americans now being held in North Korea.

“Academia has been and remains a key target of foreign intelligence services, including the [Cuban intelligence service],” says an FBI report from Sept. 2nd.“One recruitment method used by the Cubans is to appeal to American leftists’ ideology. “For instance, someone who is allied with communist or leftist ideology may assist the [Cuban intelligence service] because of his/her personal beliefs.” Not that any of the above should come as earth-shaking news to anyone who:A: Attended a typical college and suffered through typical Liberal Arts courses. B. Knows anything at all about the history of Cuban spying in the U.S.Give the A.B....